英国石油总裁唐熙华将受到美国国会盘问

BP boss Tony Hayward is set to face a grilling in the US Congress, a day after the oil firm agreed a $20bn (£13.5bn) compensation fund for victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

英国石油总裁唐熙华将要接受美国国会的盘问，日前英国石油已批准对墨西哥湾原油泄露设立200亿美元的补偿基金。

Tony Hayward will appear in Congress a day after visiting the White House

Mr Hayward is expected to tell a Congress committee that he is "personally devastated（极为震惊的） " by the spill.

The firm has withheld（保留，扣留） shareholder dividends（股息，红利） to help finance the fund.

Meanwhile, BP's containment device for the ruptured（破裂的） well is back up and running after a brief shutdown.

The capping system, which pipes leaking oil to a vessel on the ocean surface, was switched off for five hours on Tuesday after lightning struck the containment ship.

And BP announced on Wednesday that a second containment system had been launched, designed to bring oil and gas to the surface for burning.

'Complex accident'

Mr Hayward, who has come under heavy criticism for his handling of the crisis, is scheduled to give evidence to a House of Representatives committee on Thursday afternoon.

BP released snippets（小片，片段） of a prepared statement he will read to the committee in which he will say: "I fully grasp the terrible reality of the situation."

And he will also update the Congressmen with the progress of BP's internal investigation into the spill.

"I understand people want a simple answer about why this happened and who is to blame," he will say.

"The truth, however, is that this is a complex accident, caused by an unprecedented（空前的） combination of failures."

BP has agreed to pay $5bn into the compensation account, known as an escrow（有待完成条件的契据） fund, before the end of 2010. The remainder is to be paid over the following three years.

The agreement was announced by US President Barack Obama after he met BP executives at the White House.

"We will continue to hold BP and all other responsible parties accountable," Mr Obama said.

"And I'm absolutely confident BP will be able to meet its obligations to the Gulf Coast and to the American people."

"BP is a strong and viable（能养活的，可行的） company and it is in all of our interests that it remain so."

Mr Obama insisted there would be no cap on the amount BP might be asked to contribute.

Analysts said the firm's finances should be strong enough to withstand the fiscal fallout from the spill.